Plate IV. A View of the South Part of Lexington
PrintmakerEtched by
Amos Doolittle
(American, 1754 - 1832)
After a work byAfter a work by
Ralph Earl
(American, 1751 - 1801)
Date1775
MediumEngraving; printer's ink and watercolor on laid paper
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (image height x width): 11 3/4 x 17 5/8in. (29.8 x 44.8cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of John C. Parsons
Object number1844.10.4
DescriptionColonial militia fire from behind a high stone wall at British troops marching along a road bordered by stone walls in the background. Some soldiers have fallen and others flee across a field between small trees. Other soldiers set fire to frame buildings in the background. Smoke billows into the sky.
Label TextAmos Doolittle's etching depicts the colonial miltiia firing at the British troops, who are burning houses and barns as they retreat through Lexington on April 19, 1775. This print is one of the most important contemporary views of the beginnings of the American Revolution. Doolittle traveled to Lexington and Concord from his home in New Haven, Connecticut, shortly after the battles in order to view the sites and obtain eyewitness accounts of the action.
NotesHistorical note: Amos Doolittle and Ralph Earl purportedly visited the battlefields and Lexington and Concord shortly after the events of April 15, 1775. Doolittle's four plates accurately depict the sites and of the battles and reflect the accounts of eyewitnesses interviewed by the two artists. Together with Paul Revere's print of the Boston Massacre, they are the most important early American prints depicting contemporary events. Such prints were extremely uncommon in the eighteenth century.Dimensions Note: Print is matted, framed and glazed. Platemark and the edges of the sheet are not visible. Image size was estimated through glass and may not be precise. Print should be remeasured when removed from frame.
Status
Not on view
